The Colonel went to the dentist yesterday morning. He occasionally -- not always, just sometimes -- thinks of himself as "The Colonel," because it does sound kinda old-school cool. He's not a full-bird colonel. He has the leaf, which means he's actually a lieutenant colonel. Still, in the military, LTC (or, since he's Air Force Reserve, Lt. Col.) is addressed as "colonel." So, yeah, he's The Colonel.

Anyway, The Colonel went to the dentist yesterday morning. In the parking lot was a vehicle belonging to an Obama Voter, who was visiting the same dentist.

Cut now to the checking out part of the visit, after all the tooth and mouth stuff is done.

Obama Voter was ahead of The Colonel. And it seems Obama Voter wasn't happy with the amount he had to pay.

It had to do with how the work was classified by Obama Voter's insurance. Seems there had been a change to how certain dental work was classified. And that made a difference with the bill. Some dental work is considered emergency or required. Then there's situations where they'll pay for one type of something but not another type of the same something.

Bunch of insurance talk, basically. But, the bottom line was, because of changes Obama Voter's insurance made to how stuff was classified and how much they paid for different stuff, the bill was quite a bit larger than than Obama Voter expected.

And Obama Voter wanted to know why.

When the lady behind the desk explained that the insurance provider in question had changed a bunch of stuff around because of ... wait for it ... Obamacare.

Yep, the new regulations had the effect of changing how those being regulated acted. And, what with the insurance provider wanting to stay in business and all, that meant a change in benefits.

Obama Voter's mouth kinda dropped when he heard why the change was made.

The Colonel kinda shook his head and smiled a little smile.

I saw The Colonel at lunch, and he told me the story of his visit to the dentist.

I took no pleasure in the fact that the Obama Voter had experienced the effect of the very policies put in place by those he helped put in office.

Okay, I lied. I took great pleasure in it. And I want to see more of it.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

You've heard that phrase -- "the beatings will continue until morale improves" -- in comics or on signs or in statements made by coworkers.

Well, you're about to live it. Or, if you already are, others are, too.

Government regulations are the beatings on the economy. And when the government regulations cause the economy to falter, the government will simply issue more beatings, in the form of regulations.

Obamacare is one of the major problems. It's causing business expenses to increase, and businesses are cutting where they can. That includes wages.

Some businesses are reorganizing internally and reclassifying some positions so that jobs that were salaried are now hourly. Businesses are also cutting back on hours for some employees; some cuts to simply reduce wages, others to exempt those employees from full-time status and the requirement to cover them under Obamacare. Those employees get to pay the Obamacare tax -- they call it a fee or a penalty, but it only passed Constitutional muster because it's actually a tax -- so they are covered, as required by law.

When this impacts people, particularly people who voted for Obama, two things will happen.

Karma

More regulations

What will the new regulations do? Make it worse. And then more regulations. And more problems with the economy.

Now, everyone on the left will say how great the economy is because of all the number of people with jobs, even though more of those jobs will be part-time, and even though more and more will stop looking for work because it's not worth it.

The numbers, because of the way they arrange them, will look good. Well, not all numbers. The numbers on people's paychecks and in their bank accounts won't look so good.

But rest assured, the government has a plan to deal with the economy: the beatings will continue until morale improves.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

One of the things you hear about from time to time are worries about a government shutdown. The Congress and the president always seem to find a way to avoid it. And, those ways always involve increasing the debt.

I got an idea. Let the government shut down.

No, I'm serious.

You see, the government doesn't really shut down. All but essential services are stopped.

Think about that. Let that sink in.

Essential government services continue.

And that's the clue to the entire problem: the government is performing non-essential services.

I've actually had this discussion with people. When I mention that the government shouldn't be performing non-essential services, they counter with "Oh, but people are dependent on those services!"

Really. They're justifying non-essential services by citing people that are so screwed up they can't survive without them. But here's the thing: they can. The services are non-essential. That means -- and this is the part that so many people don't seem to grasp -- the services are not essential.

Oh, sure, there'll be problems. But there will be problems anyway. The question is, when is the best time to deal with them: now, while they're huge. Or later, when they're even more huge.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.

A lot of people offered some really good suggestions. Most indicated that a vote for the Republican would be the best route, although a few offered the perspective of getting rid of a lame Republican, then kicking out the Democrat next election.

Both sides had good points.

So, what did I do?

Well, before I tell you, I need to make a confession. There were actually two races like that. Both at the county level, and both featuring jackass Republicans running against Democrats. I only mentioned one race, because the same rules applied. How I handled one would be the way I'd handle both. So, I only mentioned one race.

Now, having said that, here's what I did.

I voted for a friend's goat. Really.

You can write in candidates, so I did. For one of the races, I wrote in the name of my friends' goat. Yes, their goat has a name. And a Facebook page. Really. And, now, one vote for a county government spot.

Oh, for the other county-wide race featuring a jackass Republican and a Democrat, I wrote in my cat.

I don't expect the cat to win. I don't expect the goat to win. But, if they did, they'd be a damn site better than the candidates on the ballot.